Government

Within the next two weeks, Lancaster County voters will head to the polls to choose their preference in the Palmetto State’s two presidential primaries.
First up is the Republican primary Saturday, followed a week later by the Democratic primary on Feb. 27. Both will be heavily watched, as South Carolina’s presidential primaries are the first in the South.

There are seven days left before Lancaster city voters will choose who will fill the remainder of the late Joe Shaw’s term in a special election.
The six candidates – Anthony Elder, Altheresa Goode-Howard, John Howard, Paul McKenzie, Charles Vann Jr. and Garrett Williams – spent more than an hour Monday night trying to persuade the 150-plus inside University of South Carolina Lancaster’s Bundy Auditorium why they deserved the job.

Members of Lancaster City Council will start hashing out the municipality’s financial issues for the upcoming year by holding a budget goal session meeting Saturday, Feb. 6.
The meeting is open to the public, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in council chambers at city hall.
“We are now 50 percent through the budget year, which means we get to start planning for the next one,” said city Finance Director James Absher.
The meeting includes council discussions, as well as feedback from the city’s 10 department heads.

After just one term as the District 3 representative for Lancaster County Council, Bob Bundy has decided not to run again for the seat.
Bundy, who was elected in 2012 and became council chairman in 2015, made the announcement this week. He cited his upcoming retirement from the University of South Carolina Lancaster in December and his desire to spend more time with family as reasons for the decision.
On the heels of that announcement, local business owner Billy Mosteller announced Tuesday that he plans to run for the seat.

Lancaster City Council stuck to its guns and light agenda when making new appointments to nine municipal boards and commissions at its first meeting of 2016 on Jan. 12.
Council was set to make 19 appointments to 10 total boards, but nominations for the city’s planning commission were mistakenly omitted from the meeting agenda.
Since the agenda was approved prior to the votes, one appointment to the city’s planning commission could not be made.

Victims of bad checks, as well as the people who write them, will soon have a new process to turn to in Lancaster County, which could save merchants money and prevent criminal records before they begin.
Known as the worthless-check unit, the initiative is one of several alternative court ideas envisioned by Sixth Circuit Solicitor Randy Newman and designed to cut down on case backlogs, criminal records and expenses for merchants.
Lancaster County Council unanimously approved the first steps toward forming the unit during its meeting Jan. 11.

On his first day as a candidate, Brandon Newton gained several endorsements from local political veterans and a room full of onlookers at the press conference announcing them.
More than 80 people showed up at the University of South Carolina Lancaster’s Carole Ray Dowling Center as 21-year-old Newton officially announced he will seek the S.C. House District 45 seat.
Newton said he decided to run after S.C. Rep. Deborah Long recently announced she would not seek a fifth term.

Lancaster mayoral candidates can begin filing today for the Feb. 23 special election to replace the late Joe Shaw.
Candidates can file from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 5 p.m. weekdays at the county voter registration office at the Lancaster County Administration Building, 101 N. Main St. Filing ends at noon Dec. 31.
The special election will fill the remaining term of Mayor Shaw, who died Nov. 29. The term ends in 2018.

An upgraded courthouse security system, leg restraints for prisoners and a new courtroom are some of the proposals being considered for how to use a $2.8 million surplus from the courthouse sales-tax fund.
With the fund nearing the end of its seven-year lifespan, and with several million dollars still left on the table, officials discussed what to do with the money during Lancaster County Council’s Dec. 14 meeting.

County officials have approved a short-term solution to keep deputies from leaving the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, and a more permanent plan to retain employees is in the works.
Lancaster County Council unanimously voted Dec. 14 to reallocate $218,462 in the sheriff’s office budget to help bolster the salaries of existing deputies. Originally designated for the hiring of several new deputies, the funding was moved to help incentivize existing employees and stem the tide of deputies leaving for jobs at nearby agencies.